It was like a waking nightmare – stumbling through cobbled streets that were both familiar and alien beneath a sky that was unarguably the latter, being chased by a monster he would have had trouble imagining unaided. For Ellis Graves, this was not the morning after the night before he had been expecting.
Taking quick glances back over his shoulder, he was able to catch a glimpse of the beast that pursued him. It was tall, at least seven, maybe eight feet, and it was covered in a thick armour of scales that looked like chips of rock. Its wide mouth was filled with rusty-looking, plate sized teeth that ground against each other as it ran and its eyes were balls of red flame, tapering off into the air above its skull. It was as ludicrous as it was terrifying.
Taking quick glances back over his shoulder, he was able to catch a glimpse of the beast that pursued him. It was tall, at least seven, maybe eight feet, and it was covered in a thick armour of scales that looked like chips of rock. Its wide mouth was filled with rusty-looking, plate sized teeth that ground against each other as it ran and its eyes were balls of red flame, tapering off into the air above its skull. It was as ludicrous as it was terrifying.
Ellis’ boots pounded against the cobbles as he went skidding around corners, grabbing at wooden pillars holding up overhanging stories and the edges of window ledges to stop himself careening into walls as he did so. The streets were deserted. To either side he saw doors bolted shut, windows shuttered up and stalls partially packed away. It was like a medieval market, where everyone had suddenly decided it was better to stay indoors. Looking back over his shoulder again, Ellis had a good idea why.
Somewhere in all the chaos and the panicking of running, Ellis’ mind was starting to piece things together. None of what was currently happening to him made any sense. He had stumbled into an alleyway in the town of Larksborough in the early hours of the morning and somehow had stumbled out somewhere completely different, somewhere unearthly, with monsters. It was, he had to admit, completely insane and if the adrenaline now coursing through his blood vessels hadn’t been sobering him up pretty quickly, he might have tried to dismiss it as some kind of drunken hallucination, but he couldn’t deny the evidence of his senses. He was in another world and if he didn’t find somewhere to hide soon, he was going to die there.
He rounded another corner, all to aware that the monster behind him was gaining ground, and then he came to an abrupt halt. His heart sank, his stomach rose into his throat and his panic turned to icy dread. The street was blocked.
The stalls which had been lining the past few streets were here stacked one atop the other between the opposing buildings, forming a barrier Ellis doubted he could climb over. He could hear the heavy footfalls of the monster behind him, closing in fast, so his eyes and his mind raced to find a route over the makeshift roadblock before he found himself being minced by that rusty axe-filled maw.
Then suddenly it was too late. The creature was behind him, he felt a jet of hot air on his back and then-
“Duck, boy, duck!”
He had no idea where the voice had come from, but he wasn’t going to argue with any advice under his current circumstances. He ducked and just in time as a contrail of green light shot over his head from the direction of the barricade and then the creature behind him roared in agony and tumbled backwards down the street. Several more shots of the same flew over the first and, as Ellis turned to see the fate of his pursuer, went straight through the monster’s armour, creating deep glowing holes that burned away like flaming parchment until there was nothing left of the creature but a few fragments of ash drifting down to the cobbles. Warily, Ellis stood and turned back to the barricade.
“Well that was lucky,” said the voice which had commanded him to duck. It sounded very English, in a Victorian sort of way, “I was beginning to wonder if any of the Grinders would actually come this way to permit me to test out this new contraption.” There was the sound of creaking wood and scrabbling footsteps and then a head poked out over the top of the stalls and smiled down at him. It was, assumedly, male and had a thin face with sunken eyes and straggly grey hair upon which was propped an impossibly tall and thin top hat. “You make good bait,” the head said, “may I enquire as to your name?”
“…It’s Ellis.”
“Ellis, eh? That’s a good aristocratic name. Are you from the Borough?”
“I’m from a borough.”
“Good, good! Good for you, I say. Now perhaps you could help me clear these stalls so I can get out? I’ve rather got myself stuck up here.”
He disappeared behind the stalls again and there was the sound of things being shifted about accompanied by yelps and groans as they then proceeded to land on the strange figure in their midst. Ellis, confused, felt he should begin to do something and so approached the precarious structure with caution and tried to work out where best he might begin removing things. There didn’t seem to be anywhere to start.
“Em…” Ellis began.
“Don’t worry about me,” came the voice again, now sounding slightly muffled and short of breath, “I have another way of doing this.” There was a buzzing sound and a green glow began to emanate from within the pile of stalls. “You might just want to step back a few… hundred… metres or so.”
The glow grew in intensity and Ellis looked around for some cover. He spotted another stall a little way down the hill and began to run to it. He slid underneath and secured himself at the far side just as there was a loud explosion and a rush of air. Everything went green, then there was silence but for the ringing in his ears.
Carefully he peered over the top of the stall. Purplish smoke filled the street, wafting slowly down the hill and, as it cleared, a scene of spectacular devastation was revealed. Bits of stall lay scattered everywhere, charred and, for the most part, unrecognisable. Some pieces were lodged in the walls of houses. In other places whole tabletops had flown, intact, through windows and now stuck out at odd angles as angry voices began muttering inside.
In the centre of all the carnage stood a tall, too-thin figure in an evening suit and a top hat, dusting himself off and examining something that looked a little like a gun, but just as easily resembled a steam-powered hairdryer in his right hand.
Ellis rose from his hiding place and approached cautiously.
“Well, that’s it out of charge again,” the man said with a sigh. “You have no idea how hard it is to secure that kind of energy when there’s a war on.”
Ellis had so many questions that it was hard to work out which to phrase first. Somehow he managed to settle with, “Who are you?”
“Me?” asked the man with an incredulous laugh that seemed to convey both, I’m so well know that question is nonsense, and, Why would anyone care who I am? with equal finesse. “I’m the Former Baron Von Spektr, but I guess you can call me Franck.”
“Former Baron?”
“Well, you know how things are, nobility today, gutter tomorrow. Nothing stays the same for long here.”
“And just where is here, exactly?” Ellis asked, moving on to the next question fighting to be answered in his mind.
“Did one of those pieces of wood hit you on the head?” the Former Baron asked, tilting his own head ever so slightly. “Never mind! Know, then, that this is the great, Eternal City of Shadow, may it be to you like a whorish mother.” He chuckled, then stared down at the device in his hand again as if Ellis had never been there. Ellis watched him for a minute or two, then cleared his throat, then stepped a little closer and repeated the process. Eventually he gave in and said, “Excuse me?”
“Hmm?” the Former Baron said, only half lifting his gaze from the strange gun.
“Look, I’m not from around here.”
“Yes, this is a bit far from the Borough. I’d wondered that myself, but still, you know the way I assume?”
“Actually, no, I’m not from this Borough place, I’m from… I think I’m from another world.” There was a brief, awkward silence. “Our sky is blue,” he added, to help make the point.
Now the Former Baron’s gaze was fixed on him with intense interest. “Well that is interesting,” he said with eyes gleaming from their sunken depths, “that is very, very interesting indeed!” And then he had his sinewy hands wrapped around Ellis’ arm and was dragging him on up the street.
“Hey!” Ellis protested, “what do you think you’re-”
But the Former Baron raised a thin finger to his lips and gestured down a side street where another hulking monster was standing with its back to them.
“Keep it down please,” he whispered, “we are still under siege after all.”
“But where are you taking me?” Ellis whispered back, not willing to get into another pursuit situation now that his strange companion’s weapon was out of charge.
“Back to my study. It’ll be safe there and you’ll have questions, no doubt? Yes, so many questions! I can see it in your eyes. I’ll be able to answer them there, oh yes!” And with that he led Ellis on through the streets of Shadow in silence.
All Ellis could do was follow. He felt overwhelmed. This was, he had to concede, seriously out of his depth. Part of him hoped that he might wake up any minute but everything felt so real, so solid, even in its ridiculousness, that he couldn’t deny the truth. It was ironic really. He had found his way into this world because he wanted to escape, because he couldn’t face returning to his mundane reality in the aftermath of his ‘conversation’ with Sarah, but this wasn’t what he wanted at all. He didn’t want to be stuck in an alien city with monsters and mad inventors. He felt a pang of homesickness as he looked at all the ramshackle Tudor style buildings and the winding cobblestone streets. Parts of it looked tantalisingly like Larksborough, like home, but there were little details everywhere that made it very clear that it wasn’t, not least a vista down one street which included a massive sandstone pyramid looming over the city like a child over a sandpit.
Eventually they arrived at the end of a small alley where a rickety old house lay subsiding under the effort of balancing its precarious looking three storeys. It was wreathed in thick black pipes and attached was something akin to a water tower, but it was shaking slightly and all the pipes were clanking and groaning. All in all it was an utterly uninviting site; however, Ellis was unsurprised when the Former Baron made his way up the front steps, turned and made the following announcement: “This, Elissa my boy, is the Grand Chateau Von Spektr, a.k.a. Number 7, Tentacle Lane. I bid you welcome!” He made a dramatic little bow. It looked like a stick insect trying to snap itself. “Please come in. We have tea, maybe biscuits!”
This episode is, in many ways, a better starting point than the first one, which I had, at one point, considered ditching altogether. In the end I kept it because I think it serves as a stronger tie to our world and helps to anchor Ellis a bit more in that way.
ReplyDeleteEpisode II, however, gives us our first glimpse of Shadow itself and of the character I have derived the most joy out of writing in any piece of fiction I have ever created. I hope you get as much joy out of reading him as the story progresses.